International Migrant Report 2006: A Global Assessment

More people live outside their country of birth today than at any time in history, and the numbers of people who move across international borders are expected to continue to rise in the future. In the past years, international migration has moved to the forefront of the international agenda. The International Migration Report 2006: A Global Assessment, prepared by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, addresses key migration issues by providing an overview of international migration levels, trends and policies, as well as related indicators for major areas, regions and countries of the world.

The International Migration Report 2006 consists of three major parts. The first part discusses major trends in the international migrant stock in the world and international migration policies since the 1990s and includes an overview of major legal instruments on international migration and their status of ratification. The second part includes the resolutions on international migration and development, adopted by the General Assembly in 2003, 2004 and 2005, as well as the corresponding reports of the Secretary-General on international migration and development. The third part presents international migration profiles for the world as a whole as well as for all major areas and regions, special country groupings and individual countries. The profiles include information on population estimates and projections, the international migrant stock, net migration flows, refugees, remittances, government views and policies relating to immigration and emigration levels as well as the status of ratification of relevant international instruments.